This Isn’t Mad Man Theory, It’s a Mad Man
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Our reliance on the mainstream media, even the revered New York Times, for an understanding of Donald Trump’s psyche and behavior is a waste of time. The media continue to discuss Trump in terms that normalize his psychotic behavior, refer to his style as transactional rather than dysfunctional, and deemphasize the risks associated with his remaining in power for two and a half more years. If you want to understand Donald Trump and the risks he represents to all of us, you need the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association; it is the authoritative guide used by clinicians and researchers to diagnose, classify, and treat mental disorders. The DSM’s description of the symptoms associated with pathological narcissism clearly relate to Trump’s exaggerated self-centeredness that crosses the line into narcissistic personality disorder. The obvious symptoms include pervasive pattern of grandiosity (“Only I can fix it.”); the need for admiration (sycophantic behavior of his political appointees); and a lack of empathy (“that’s the way it is”) upon learning the first U.S. soldiers had died in Trump’s war.
For an example of Trump’s disorderly mind and incoherence, there is the following from one 24-hour period the day after Easter: he began the day calling the prospects for a cease-fire a “significant step;” by noon, he demanded that Iran “cry uncle;” and following dinner, he stated the “entire country can be taken out in one night.” This is typical of Trump’s behavior in both presidential terms over the past ten years.
If the DSM is too theoretical, then Mary Trump (Donald’s only niece) wrote an important book (“Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man”) six years ago that describes the emotional neglect and misattunement of Donald’s youth that contributed to his low self-esteem. Mary Trump’s book describes the upbringing that played a role in his narcissism, and she explains her uncle’s pathological need for external affirmation and his hypersensitivity to criticism.
As a result of his illness, Donald Trump selected a cabinet and surrounded himself with political allies to provide constant praise and affirmation. Foreign leaders in Europe and Asia soon got the message and brought gifts and praise to the White House for their meetings with the U.S. leader. There is no indication that Trump established genuine friendships with any of these individuals at home or abroad because reciprocal relationships are out of reach for pathological narcissists, according to the DSM.
And if neither the DSM nor the Mary Trump book are your cup of tea, then use Youtube to scan Trump’s speeches and published remarks over the past ten years to measure for yourself the cognitive decline and self-absorbed arrogance over the past decade. His exercises in confabulation are on display such as the reference to calls from former presidents supporting his war in Iran. All of the former presidents have publicly denied talking to Trump, let alone supporting a war that can be attributed to Trump’s predatory hegemonic behavior.
Trump’s lethal flaws have already contributed to strategic setbacks for the United States that will harm our national security interests and the political and economic interests. America’s fiscal health will be harmed by the outrageous level of defense spending that is taking place. The health of Americans will be harmed by the cuts in domestic programs in order to pay for a defense budget that already exceeds the defense spending of every country in the world. The impact of Trump’s budget will be felt by our children and grandchildren who will pay for the increases in the federal debt.
The latest revelation concerning the Trump administration deals with a meeting in the Pentagon that suggested a declaration of war against the Catholic Church. In January, the top Vatican diplomat was “summoned” to the Pentagon to meet with Elbridge Colby, the Department of Defense’s undersecretary of war policy, who happens to be Catholic as well as the grandson of William Colby, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The meeting was described as “frank and cordial,” the phrase used during the Cold War to describe difficult meetings between U.S. and Soviet or Chinese diplomats. The fact that the meeting was held at the Pentagon, and not the White House or the Department of State, also suggests the likelihood of a confrontational discussion. And the fact that Colby may have raised the Avignon Papacy in the 1300s, when the French used military power to dominate papal authority, is particularly worrisome. Moreover, it suggests that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Colby are trying to take over the role of diplomacy from the Department of State.
As the Iran war goes badly for Donald Trump, the peace talks fail, and his goals remain unattainable, the more unhinged and destructive he becomes. Over the past two weeks, his language regarding the “death of a civilization” and the “obliteration” of Iranian infrastructure have even shocked his right-wing supporters and a handful of Republican members of Congress. Pope Leo’s pointed reminder on Palm Sunday that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war” must have been particularly loathsome to Trump and his Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who belongs to a church associated with Christian nationalism.
Hegseth’s Christian nationalism presumably had much to do with the January meeting in the first place. Hegseth likened the recent rescue of a downed airman in Iran to the Christian story of the death of Jesus, his entombment in a cave, and resurrection. “God is good,” Hegseth said last week. And on Monday, Trump trashed Pope Leo once again on social media, urging him to “stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.” Fortunately, the pontiff responded that he would “continue to speak out loudly against war.”
Trump’s rages and his “predatory hegemonism” have finally led to calls from Democrats for impeachment or the use of the 25th Amendment to sideline the president, which was designed to deal with presidential impairment. Neither tool appears likely to succeed due to Republican fealty toward Trump, regardless of the level and pace of Trump’s decline. Nevertheless, I will discuss both options in next week’s column.
The post This Isn’t Mad Man Theory, It’s a Mad Man appeared first on CounterPunch.org.